“Venti caramel macchiato with extra caramel” I said to the Starbucks worker. “That will be $7.25.” I handed her the cash and went to wait for my drink to be made. While I was waiting, I texted my friends a couple blocks down who were shopping their heads off. I had decided to take a coffee break, since my friends and I had been at this for 6 straight hours. “Order for Carter” said the Starbucks worker. I went up to claim my drink. When I grabbed my drink, I took a sip out of it while turning to go. All of a sudden I crashed into someone and next thing I know my venti macchiato is all over the stranger. I start rambling “sorry” over and over again. I’m so caught up in grabbing napkins that I don’t even look up to see the person I just spilled all my coffee on. The anonymous stranger finally says, “Thank god it wasn’t hot coffee.” I catch the thick accent on him and look up to notice he’s completely covered up. I do notice that he has small curls hiding out from under his baseball cap hes got on. “Are you okay, love?” And I swear I melted right there. Just his voice was enough for me to form a crush. Imagine knowing the guy. I know a good 10 minutes went by of just us staring at each other. I finally break the ice. “Y-y-yeah. I’m so sorry. I should have looked where I was going. I’m such a klutz. Please let me buy you a new shirt. There is a store a couple blocks down and I would feel so bad if you were stuck in that shirt all day.” I realized I was rambling, but that was the only way to keep me from staring at him again. “There is no need for you to buy me a shirt, but could you please show the store? I’m starting to get sticky under this shirt.” “Yeah! No problem. But are you sure you don’t want me to pay for a new shirt?” “I’m sure. What kind of fella would run into a lady and waste her coffee. Then make her pay for a new shirt?” “Well, since you put it THAT pay.” We walked to the store in silence. It wasn’t really awkward. It was like we were scanning each other and I was definitely liking what I was seeing. After about 5 minutes, he said “Are we almost there? I’m starting to feel really uncomfortable in this shirt.” I wanted to tell him we were almost there. But honest to goodness, I didn’t really know. On the way to Starbucks, I hadn’t been really paying attention to where I was going. But I knew we had to have been closer then where we started. “Yeah, almost. Just a couple more minutes.” Hopefully. “So where you from?” His question sort of caught me off guard, since I assumed we were gunna go back to our quiet walking. “Here. This is my hometown”, I answer back swiftly. “Awesome. I’m sort of um, well uh, visiting.” “I sort of figured.” He cocked and eyebrow and said “Really, how?” “Your accent.” “Oh, I forget I have an accent until someone points it out. Like right now.” “My bad. If it helps, I love accents. I think they are sorta sexy.” “Hmmff,well are you saying I’m sexy?” I know my face turned tomato red within seconds. I was speechless. “I-uh- that’s not-..” “I’m just messing with you! Hahaha.” “THAT WAS SO NOT FUNNY.” I tried pushing his arm but somehow in the midst attempting to punch him, I tripped on a small rock. He caught my arm. This might sound very cliché, but the moment his skin made contact with mine, all I could think about was me and him. It felt like we were the only people on Earth. After a good minute, I finally found the courage to speak up. I also had to find the courage to move out of his grip. “Hahaha, oops. Thank you. So.. since you aren’t from around here, where you from then?” “Holmes Chapel, England.” “No way! I’ve always wanted to visit there. I’m sooooo jealous of you!” He chuckles while saying “Really? You’re so jealous of me that you want to be in this sticky shirt?” I almost forgot that we were still walking looking for the store. And thank goodness we were right in front of it now. “We’re here.” He opened the door for me and said “Ladies first.” I almost died right there and went to heaven. “A few of my friends are already here. I’m gunna go tell them I’m back from my coffee break. The men’s section is right over there. And that’s when I realized this would be the last time I saw the mystery guy. After we went our separate ways, we wouldn’t see each other anymore. “Alright, well let me pick a shirt and we can meet at the register so I can show off my new shirt to you.” I laugh and tell him okay. I walk towards the dressing room since I knew the girls were probably trying on some dresses. Tonight was the big 1D concert. They are big fans. Me, not so much. I listen to their music on the radio, but I haven’t really had the time to see what they look like and fangirl. Having a life is soooo time consuming. But I do give them props, they can really sing.

“Sunny? Amy? Ginger? You guys back here?” “Yeah!” They all say in unison. “Where’s your coffee?!” says Amy when she opens her dressing room. “Oh, long story short. I ran into this cutie with my coffee. And I brought him here so he could get a new shirt. Guys, when I tell you, he. Is. CUTE!” “Dang Carter, I have never seen you like this over any guy. He must be something.” says Sonny to me. “Off-subject for a moment, but, sis, are you going to find a dress for the concert tonight?” Ginger asks me. “I already told you countless times, I’m just gunna wear what I have on.” “Carter, you do realize you are wearing jeans and a hoodie?!” stated Sunny. “Thank you for stating the obvious.” If anyone really knows me, it’s these three girls. They know I hate anything but jeans and sweats. “C’mon Carter, just this once. You know this is a special night for us. And we want you to feel special along with us.” Amy says. “Yeah, please Carter. You know we barely ever ask you to do stuff for us!” said Sunny. And I knew that once they started ganging up on me, I would not hear the last of it. It was either go to the concert willingly, or be dragged there. “Okay, fine! But you guys owe me BIG time.” And I made sure I did my best eye roll to ensure that they knew how I felt about all this. “YAY.” They said in unison. “You know we love you and we just want you to have a good time. You’ll be thanking us by the end of the night.” said Ginger. “And plus” added Sunny “you might attract some cute guys!” The thought hit me that I had totally forgotten about cute mystery guy. “Oh crap! I need to go check on the cutie I left out there. Just stay in here and I’ll come back.” Amy started making a pouting face and said “why can’t we meet him? You know I want to meet any guy that makes you blush like he does.” “No. You guys already forced me into going to this silly concert. The LEAST you can do is stay back here so you don’t embarrass me.” “But what about your cute outfit?” asked Sunny. “Okay, how about if you guys promise to stay back here until I come back then you can choose ANY outfit for me tonight to wear. Does that sound like a deal?” “OH. MY. GOSH. YES.” They all screamed. I rolled my eyes and walked away to go find the mystery guy.

First place I looked was the register. He probably already chose out a shirt since I was gone for about 15 minutes. Something I learned about guys was they took half as much time looking for clothes than girls did. When I didn’t see him there, I stalked over to the men’s apparel section. I couldn’t find him anywhere around there either. My heart sort of dropped. What if he already left? I was walking towards the dressing room to my friends when I suddenly slipped over a shirt that was on the ground. Before my butt made contact with the ground, I felt a familiar touch grip onto my waist. I felt his breathe on my ear and it made my bones shiver. I turned around to face who I knew it was. I could smell the coffee on him. Hahaha, oops. “You really do have to watch out, love. It’s like your accident proned.” “Maybe you’re just bad luck. Every time I’m around you, I end up tripping or slipping.” I noticed his shirt. This one was definitely an improvement. It was sleeveless. In a way like a tank top, but it was loose and patterned. He was beyond fit. “Like what you see?” he asked, which broke me out of my daze. I didn’t realize I had been staring. “Oh, uh, I was just admiring the shirt. It’s nice.” I mentally wanted to slap myself on the forehead. Now he’ll KNOW I was staring. “Uh-huh. Sure you were. And thanks, it’s really comfy. So did you check in with your friends?” “Yeah, they were so busy trying on clothes they didn’t want to come back out here.” “Awh. I was sort of wanting to meet your friends.” “Why?” “To see if they were as charming and cute as you.” I felt the heat rush to my cheeks within seconds. And I wondered if he really meant it or if he was just saying that. “They’re so excited about this 1D concert tonight. They are even forcing me to go.” I want to say his face was confused, but I’m really not sure. “Are you not a fan?” he asked. “It’s not that I don’t like their music, because they are really talented. But I just don’t have time to fangirl and watch videos of them like my friends do. I’d choose reading a book or watching football with friends over playing Barbie dress-up and get all sweaty at a concert anyday.” I answered truthfully. “I didn’t have you as a football girl.” “Oh, I love football. Well, I love watching it. I’d rather be playing rugby though.” “What’s rugby?” My mouth dropped. “You’ve never played rugby?!” I almost shouted at him. “Hahaha, no. I wasn’t really an athletic kid growing up. More of musically talented.” I was surprised. With muscles like his, I would have thought he played football, basketball, baseball, and probably tennis. “Oh well, it’s sort of like football but with no pads or protection. You can get hurt easier, but it has less rules.” I felt like I was rambling on. “Sorry, I sometimes ramble on about stuff I’m really passionate about.” “It’s okay. It sounds like a really fun game. And there is nothing wrong about wanting to share something you’re passionate about.” He looked around for a couple of seconds and finally faced me and asked “What time is it?” I took out my phone and said “4:30.. why?” He looked so freaked out. “Oh crap- I have to go. I lost track of time. My ride was supposed to pick me up 15 minutes ago. I’m so sorry I have to rush out like this. It was such a pleasure meeting you, love.” I was really, really, really, really sad. I wanted him to stay and keep talking to me. “Yeah, it was definitely a pleasure meeting you too.” And I felt my phone buzz. I looked down to my screen and saw that Sunny had texted me and said “Hurry, we want to go back out there to choose you an outfit!” And when I looked back up, he was already gone. In this moment, I realized that I liked this guy. More than I should. I never felt a connection with any other guy. Maybe that’s why I’m an upcoming freshman in college and I’ve never had a boyfriend. But with him, my heart was beating twice its normal rate. It’s like I just got done playing a rugby game. No guy has ever made me feel this way. “Is this what a crush feels like?” I wondered to myself. I walked back to the dressing room to the girls.

“Well, is he gone?!” Sunny asked. “Yeah, he’s gone.” I said softly. “Did you get his name and number then?” asked Ginger. And that’s when I realized I didn’t even get the cute, coffee guy’s name.

Notes

hope you guys enjoy!!<3